Trespasser (Black Widow)
No one knows the origin of the ominous, self-proclaimed Trespasser. Moving with uncanny intent, the Trespasser has appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, across the globe, looting graveyards and violently slaughtering everything that gets in their way. They seem to be just an ordinary jackal, but on the inside, underneath their taxidermied skin and flesh, something much less natural awaits. Whatever the specifics and wherever they came from, the Trespasser seems to be a being who intruded into the realm of the dead, and returned a hollow, murderous husk. In exchange for their mortality and any semblance of a soul, they also gained a deep knowledge of the “truth” of life and death, something that they put to use in a new, unique, and wholly alien form of magic. Appearance There is something very wrong and unnatural about the Trespasser and their jerking, clumsy movements. Standing rigidly straight at 6 feet tall, the Trespasser never slouches, only ever lowering themself to enter a skulking, predatory position. Lean and bony, Trespasser is covered in tan fur, flecked with black, especially their tail, which is relatively short and bushy. For the most part, they resemble an ordinary jackal, with amber eyes, tall ears, and a long snout. But this snout hides steel grey teeth, and their worn down paws have sharp, gleaming claws. Underneath this mask of flesh and skin and fur is the core of Trespasser's body, a robotic canine endoskeleton of blackened steel, stained by their own blood. Every movement makes small creaking, screeching sounds as their body works and forces itself into motion. It is no gleaming, futuristic thing, not the sleek robot of science fiction - it is harsh, cold, and industrial, resembling a gunmetal skeleton with bright red eyes. Trespasser does not care for fashion and wears whatever shirt and pants they can find, inevitably wearing them ragged over the course of months. Their clothing is loose and often stained with blood. They never wear shoes. Over their lackluster wardrobe, Trespasser wears a billowing black burial shroud, with dangling straps and a hood, pulled over their head. The inside of the shroud is covered in hieroglyphs and magical symbols, but they are in text so dark that it is nearly impossible to make them out. Personality The Trespasser is extremely quiet, usually silent, communicating more through their foreboding presence and intimidating aura than through words. When they do talk, it is in a low, growling voice, and, though they don’t often speak, they are verbose and condescending. What little they have said reveals a deep loathing and disgust reserved for all the living beings they encounter, from the blades of grass they crush underfoot, to "other" "jackals", which they revile. Trespasser dismissively refers to most living beings as "meat", and kills them violently without exception, splattering their remains all around, something that revolts them even more. They have a very blasé but brutal approach to these things, and rarely show any emotion. While normally stoic and seemingly apathetic, Trespasser can reveal a much more smug and sinister side of themself once their interest has actually been piqued, usually against those who have actually managed to inconvenience them. They gloat and sadistically drag out the deaths of such individuals, even when it detriments them and goes against their plans, but they don't care. To Trespasser, it's all a game, and it's a game they can't possibly lose. There is little else they reveal about themself. Powers and Statistics Tier: 9-B, 8-A with magic Powers and Abilities: Genius Intelligence, Extrasensory Perception (They can detect magical energy, and can track beings based on how close they are to death, instantly and easily locating corpses), Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Magic, Electricity Manipulation, Metal Manipulation, Soul Manipulation (They can control the souls of the dead and can permanently destroy them), Technology Manipulation (They can control and shape technology, reassembling it into new machines if needed), Weather Manipulation, Dimensional Travel (Using their sarcophagus, or a special ritual, Trespasser can travel between the worlds of the living and dead), Immortality/Regeneration Negation with Death Waltz (Transfers Trespasser and nearby living beings to the realm of the dead, where death sticks when it normally would not), Limited Pseudo-Invisibility (Their cloak prevents them from being noticed or processed as anything unnatural by others), Necromancy, Non-Physical Interaction (Trespasser can interact with ghosts and other intangible beings), Telepathy, Transmutation (Can transmute bone to steel), Immunity to Death Manipulation (As an undead, Trespasser has no life or death to speak of - they are neither living or dead, and cannot and will not be either, rendering them completely immune to conventional death-inducing curses) and Soul Manipulation (Trespasser has no soul), Immortality (Types 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 9; Trespasser is completely unliving, an undead monstrosity for whom mortality is an alien thing, and their true body exists in the realm of the dead, controlling all their instances and producing new ones as needed) Attack Potency: Wall level (Much stronger than Iris, physically speaking, and capable of effortlessly crushing skulls underfoot or in their hands. Can punch a head off with such force that the head pulps itself on impact with the ground), Multi-City Block level with magic (A peer of Iris when it comes to magical power, and capable of altering the flow and formation of storms). Speed: Below Average Human (Trespasser walks at a slow, plodding pace) with Subsonic combat speed (At close quarters, Trespasser can throw attacks fast enough that normal beings couldn't perceive them, and they can react to attacks from Iris and other mages). Lifting Strength: Class 5 (Trespasser can lift and throw cars without issue). Striking Strength: Wall Class Durability: At least Small Building level (Trespasser's metal endoskeleton can tank basic spells from Iris, such as Beltane, which can incinerate droves of regular undead), Multi-City Block level with Grim Sarcophagus (Trespasser's sarcophagus is durable enough to tank Iris' most powerful attacks, all sans Malefic Shadow). Stamina: Virtually limitless. Range: Standard melee range, tens to hundreds of meters with magic. Standard Equipment: The various items built into their body, and the burial shroud they wear. Intelligence: Whatever their origin, one thing is clear about the Trespasser - they are a brilliant mage, a true genius who somehow developed an entirely new form of magic, completely separate from any Earthly branch, based on the eldritch knowledge they discovered in the realm of the dead. They have used this to create many new spells, and though these may be similar in function to Earthly magic, their structure and formula are completely different and highly advanced. Trespasser can also create and handle technology that is far beyond anything in the modern world, combining it with magic to push it even farther. In combat, the Trespasser is cruel and cunning, using all of their abilities and undead to their fullest extent. Weaknesses: Trespasser must properly prepare corpses prior to animation to get the most out of them; corpses reanimated on the spot will be frail and weak. Only one instance of Trespasser can be active in the same area at once. Because they derive power from the world of the dead's ley lines, and not Earth's, an area rich in magical energy for regular spellcasters may be barren and useless for them. Lastly, they have a tendency to toy with their prey, even if it means losing an instance. Abilities The Trespasser is, well, just that - a Trespasser. As Earth’s magic sprouted and evolved across the planet in many ways, it took many forms over time, but each and every magic’s ancestry can be determined by studying its formulas and structures and comparing them to similar magics. Each and every magic besides what Trespasser uses, which follows neither the Left-Hand or Right-Hand Paths and is completely alien to the Earth and its magics. It defies understanding and analysis, functioning off of a completely different basis. While Trespasser has a deep understanding of magic, they combine their knowledge of sorcery and technology for the purpose of necromancy, raising the dead and refitting them to serve their mysterious ambitions. While they do not refer to their magic by any name, it can be called, rather simply, Necromantech. All of Trespasser’s magic and technology is derived from the “truth” and the sudden understanding of mortality they gained from passing the boundary between life and death, which they used to formulate an entirely new system of magic. They claim that anyone who lacks the same understanding of the “truth” could never hope to understand their magic. Because of their namesake trespassing, Trespasser is no longer a normal living creature, something that has only been furthered by their usage of magic. Though they may appear to be a jackal on the outside, their unnatural existence remains obvious - every motion is jerking and wrong, they never breathe, eat, or drink, and they’re cold to the touch. Underneath their flesh is the source, Trespasser's core, a robotic canine skeleton of harsh steel. They are utterly lifeless, in both flesh and steel, with nothing alive in a single cell. In some ways, they are similar to a lich, but it would be a misnomer - Trespasser, once again, stands alone. * Black Ley Lines: While most magic users can draw power from the Earth’s ley lines, using it to bolster their spells and avoid dipping too deep into their personal stores, Trespasser does not follow the same set of ley lines. Instead, they draw their power from the ley lines of the world of the dead, as if it were overlaid with Earth’s. This makes their power unpredictable, as a barren location on Earth with minimal magic to give can be a wellspring of power for Trespasser. Of course, the opposite is true as well, but Trespasser knows this and plans around it. * Gallows Taster: On account of their intrusion into the realm of the dead and their subsequent immersion deep in the “truth” of mortality, Trespasser has the uncanny ability to detect and track others based on how close they are to death. While they may have virtually no ability to track a perfectly healthy individual, unusual for a canine, they can easily hunt down those who are extremely ill or badly injured, even across many kilometers. It’s even more potent with those who are already dead - no matter the location, Trespasser can dig up a body without fail. The undead can be located by this sinister ability in the same way. * Katabasic Processor: Any body that Trespasser appears in is a false one, puppetted and controlled by their true core, which exists deep in another world, either the underworld or somewhere in between. There is no way of knowing the form that this true body takes - it may be a mass of information, like a demon, or perhaps it is Trespasser’s original mortal guise, or something else entirely. Whatever the case, this makes Trespasser more or less impossible to kill. Any damage that a body takes is irrelevant when it can be replaced by one of countless others, apparently generated by their true body and sent off to act in their goals, a process referred to as anabasis. For some unknown reason, only one instance of a Trespasser can be active in the same area at a time, but many can be on the same planet at once. The actions of each and every Trespasser are coordinated by their true body, but the Trespassers can act on their own. While how old they are is a complete mystery, Trespasser has accumulated an impressive array of spells, the majority of which they have created themself based on their unique school of magic. Many of these spells require incantations, symbols, or some other ritual to be used at their full power, but Trespasser has the experience and knowledge needed to circumvent these things and cast weaker - though still potent - variations. Trespasser outfits themself with a combination of magical equipment and specially designed technology, much of which is built into their body. This equipment is essential to their operations and actions in the real world, and especially for combat. They wield no wand or any equivalent, yet another unusual trait. * Embalming Machine: Built into both of Trespasser’s arms are advanced, miniaturized embalming machines used to empty out the internal fluids of victims before replacing them with a variety of magically-treated chemicals. This is done through long tubes, ending in needles, projected through their wrists. The process is generally fatal, causing deadly amounts of blood loss fairly quickly, and Trespasser makes use of it to get rid of the parts of biological beings they find most repugnant. ** Undying Steel: These magically-treated chemicals cause a transmutation reaction, triggering the transformation of a victim’s skeletal structure into a new steel endoskeleton, just like Trespasser’s, leaving them perfectly prepared for reanimation. * Stalker’s Shroud: Trespasser’s cloak, truly a burial shroud, is of course enchanted and reinforced with magic, making it extremely resilient and useful for defensive purposes. However, its main purpose is in greatly reducing Trespasser’s presence, making it easy for others to simply not notice them, and, if they do, to not process that there’s anything off about them at all. While very effective in obscuring Trespasser’s nature and intent with normal people, it is significantly less useful against other magical beings, who will be able to see through the simple glamour. Of course, this is part of Trespasser’s design - they want to attract magical beings, as they’re the most useful... ** Grim Sarcophagus: Trespasser can transform their burial shroud into an ornate black steel sarcophagus perfectly shaped for their body, made through a fusion of machinery and magic. Inside the sarcophagus, which is extremely durable, Trespasser can repair damage to the flesh and steel of their body, returning themself to peak condition after a couple of minutes at least, and a couple of hours at most. More importantly, however, as Trespasser couldn’t care any less about their body’s condition, is its capacity for simplified katabasis and anabasis. Trespasser can utilize it to travel between the realms of the living and dead instantly, appearing at whatever location they please in either, based on coordinates entered into the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus cannot be easily used by anyone but a Trespasser; the technology is alien, complex, and unintuitive, and Trespasser often changes its programming to outright bar anyone else from using it. It is also not necessary for Trespasser’s intrusion - it is simply the fastest and easiest method. * Vivisection Kit: Trespasser has an extensive, well-outfitted surgical kit built into their torso and arms, including many useful tools, such as bone cutters, drills, laser scalpels, and saws, all used to modify and prune their future undead servitors. Of course, they all make for useful weapons as well, and Trespasser has a disturbing tendency to operate on their victims while they’re still alive. Beyond their arsenal of technology, Trespasser has access to a wide variety of spells, the majority of which they created themself. Many of these spells are similar in function to Earthly spells, but their alien formulas and complexity make them very hard to analyze, comprehend, or properly defend against. Trespasser’s arsenal of magic, used primarily for their Necromantech, is as follows; * Dread Slaver: Trespasser’s perfected and personalized take on the basic idea of “animate dead”. While it does the same thing as any other form of the spell, the basis of reanimation, Trespasser’s advanced necromancy and mastery of the art simply makes it better. Their undead are hardier, stronger, and can be controlled with much more finesse, though they remain more or less mindless. This does not mean they are exempt from basic necromantic rules; while Trespasser can animate the dead with as little as a gesture, such undead will be frail and won’t last long. To get the most out of their undead, Trespasser must subject them to proper preparation, which, for them, means embalming their bodies and transmuting their skeletons to steel, making undead creatures similar to themself. This usually takes around twenty minutes per corpse, so it would take hours to amass a sizeable group alone - as a result, Trespasser has found ways to automate the process through their technology and by using their pre-existing undead. Trespasser’s undead are often further modified during the process, warping them into entirely new shapes, which are often more deadly and sometimes not, for whatever reason. A particular trademark of Trespasser’s undead is headlessness, with the now mechanical spine exposed, sticking from the stump of the neck. * Electronic Lockpick: A more advanced version of the original lockpick spell, which can be used to unlock electronic locks, such as keypads. With more focus and time, it can be used to hack into a variety of devices, such as computers and phones. * Ghastly Writ: Though Trespasser seems to focus more on reanimation than divination, the truth of the matter is that Trespasser’s specialty is divination, something that their abilities are amazingly well-suited for. After all, their intrusion into the land of the dead has made them quite familiar with the stuff of souls. While lesser necromancers can only call upon the spirits of the recently deceased in most cases, and usually require a corpse present to do so, Trespasser can summon phantoms from hundreds, or perhaps even thousands of years ago from the land itself. Having a corpse present will, of course, make the ritual easier, and the ensuing spirit will be more useful. Summoned spirits are generally difficult to communicate with; they can only be manifested for so long, will speak cryptically, and have fractured memories of their lives. Trespasser, however, can force the spirits they summon to speak frankly and truthfully, regardless of their own desires, sharing their secrets and providing counsel when needed, before they dissipate and return to the land of the dead. ** Writ - Haunt: A variation of Ghastly Writ that, upon manifesting summoned spirits, forces them to haunt and torment a target, using their spectral abilities and all the power they had in life. These ghosts are much more dangerous than Trespasser’s mindless corporeal undead, and though they may not be the equal of the original, they are still deadly. They may appear as specific varieties of incorporeal undead, depending on the circumstances of the original’s death. Trespasser usually specially picks the manifested phantoms to be figures important to their victim; deceased loved ones, idols, or enemies, twisted into vile, sinister copies completely and unquestioningly loyal to Trespasser. As a result, the real threat is in the psychological impact. * Grim Assembly: Trespasser can use this spell to take apart, reassemble, or create machinery from pre-existing materials, imbuing the newfound machine with a glimmer of a sinister intellect and capability. These machines are as undead as they come, and may just be comparable in intelligence to other mindless undead, or capable of higher reasoning and self-awareness. * Necrospark: Trespasser’s mechanical body produces electricity with its motions, electricity that helps power it, and they can channel this electricity through their body to shock opponents with a lethal charge transmitted through an arc of green lightning. * Signal Conduct: Like a similar modern spell, this allows Trespasser to expand the range of their magic by channeling through other signals, such as a phone call, or using a cell site to further expand their range. Trespassers uses this to greatly extend the range at which they can control their undead. * Sinister Hijack: Trespasser can use this spell to seize control of machines or the undead created by others, which the magic recognizes as equally unliving. It’s a simple matter for Trespasser to take over and even reprogram a computer network, and even intelligent, independent undead such as liches can be potentially controlled if they don’t take the proper precautions - precautions that are virtually impossible to take because of the the alien nature of Trespasser’s magic. * Soulpoint: A curse that can be applied to other spells or weapons along with a target. It prevents the spirit of the target from being called upon after their death, or from escaping death by traveling to another body. At a low frequency, this just forces the spirit to stay in the realm of the dead, but at a high frequency, it destroys the soul itself. A mainstay in any necromancer’s arsenal, this is a curse useful for killing ghosts and preventing forensic necromancers from divining the truth of a crime. Because of Trespasser’s unconventional magic, normal protection against similar curses is useless against them. * Katabasis: The spell that Trespasser seems to have originally used to reach the land of the dead. It requires a ritual to use - Trespasser must engrave a series of hieroglyphs and other symbols around an opening that leads downwards, such as a doorway to a staircase or the mouth of a cave. An incantation must be spoken, and then the gate can be opened and Trespasser can descend into the land of the dead. The journey will take around an hour regardless of the depth of the original descent, but will take the form of the original passage, whether it be a cave, a staircase, a ladder, or a sheer fall from a trapdoor. Trespasser can choose to close the gate behind them, causing the symbols to fade and the doorway to be unusable in this way. If they do not, another can follow, but Trespasser will also be able to take the gateway back to reach the physical world through Anabasis. Alternatively, they could simply perform the opposite ritual in the land of the dead, using an opening that leads upwards. This is the only spell in Trespasser’s arsenal that is recognizably Earth in origin, seemingly a blend of Ancient Egyptian and Greek magics. ** Death Waltz: An alien variation of the Katabasis ritual, used by drawing a large ritual circle that encompasses an “arena”. Upon completion of the ritual, Katabasis is enacted over the area, forcing every living thing within it into the realm of the dead, after a faster descent that drags them to the corresponding location in the afterworld. This makes an “arena” that cannot be left or entered, not until the ritual fades and the arena’s contents return to the real world, which takes about 30 minutes. Within the realm of the dead, death simply sticks better, so immortals and regenerators will find that such traits are not so useful here. Anyone killed within the space is instantly raised as a spirit under Trespasser’s control, their body crumbling away to dust. If only part of a living being is within the ritual circle when activated, that part will descend while the rest of their body remains in the real world, sans that body part. Trivia * Trespasser was inspired by ''Phantasm'''s Tall Man. 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